Derek Love is gearing up for another busy year selling real estate in suburban Vancouver.

After a brief lull in business in the latter half of 2012, when properties lingered on the market a little longer than usual and prices stalled, activity is once again starting to pick up.

“We’ve noticed, in the month of December, a lot more confidence. We are getting calls for from all different types of buyers who are eager and asking questions about homes we’ve had for sale for six months,” said Love, who’s worked for 20 years primarily in the Tri-Cities for the family-run firm Coldwell Banker Love Realty.

The slow times don’t worry him too much.

The allure of places like Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody is, and has always been, affordability.

The map below shows the overall change in property assessment values in each city over the past year. The darker the colour, the more that city’s overall assessment increased. Click on a city for more details.

Where property prices in some areas of Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby climbed by as much as 30 per cent last year, prices in the Tri-Cities and New Westminster stayed the course.

“We didn’t really have that big increase,” said Love, noting $600,000 to $800,000 will still buy “a really good family home — well kept, basement suite, nice yard, quiet street.”

Now that the 2013 assessments are out, that slow and steady pace is once again reflected in the numbers.

According to B.C. Assessment, the total change in assessed property values, as of July 1, 2012, was about five per cent in Coquitlam, Surrey and New Westminster.

Changes were more notable in Vancouver, which rose just two per cent this year, and Richmond, which dipped 0.64 per cent.

The total change includes assessed values of existing properties, new construction, and other factors such as renovations and rezoning.

Katrina Amurao, a realtor with Re/Max 2000 Realty, said the stability in Surrey’s market is driven largely by an equally strong demand for and supply of single-family homes.

“There are a lot of them and they are selling,” she said.

Amurao said the average price of a single-family home in Surrey in December 2012 was $560,000 — a figure virtually unchanged from twelve months earlier.

“The prices here have not necessarily been jumping the way they did in Vancouver,” she said.

Click on the map below to explore the priciest homes in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. The map shows the 100 most valuable residential properties according to BC Assessment in each of the Lower Mainland's four sub-regions: Vancouver-North Shore-Sea to Sky, North Fraser, South Fraser and Fraser Valley. Red dots are homes work more than $10 million, yellow dots those worth $4m-$10m, green dots those worth $2m-$4m and blue dots those worth less than $2m. Google Street View images are approximate and may not show the exact property in question.

Surrey’s condo market has not been as stable.

The construction of one-bedroom units in new highrise built in the city centre and along the SkyTrain line has outpaced current demand, said Amurao. Prices have fallen, with some investors selling these properties for less than what they paid for them.

“A lot of people bought them with the intention of flipping them. Now they are built, they want to sell,” she said.

Eugen Klein, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, said the relative affordability of detached homes is not the only reason for the suburbs continued real-estate health.

He said investments in transit, including the future Evergreen rapid-transit line, the Golden Ears Bridge and Port Mann Bridge, combine to make centres outside of Vancouver more accessible and attractive to families and individuals looking to buy.

“Those areas are starting to blossom. We’re actually seeing in some areas price increases, because people are going there,” Klein said.

Hani Lammam, vice-president of development and acquisition with Cressey Development Group, said demand has been strong for one- and two-bedroom condo units in downtown Coquitlam.

Lammam’s company is expecting to finish the second of three highrise towers at Glen Drive and Pinetree Way this fall, with about 90 per cent of the building’s 169 units pre-sold. Lammam estimated the average price of a one-bedroom was in the low $200,000s, while a two-bedroom sold for more than $300,000.

The company plans to begin selling 319 units in a third tower this spring.

“Rapid-transit has really been a catalyst for Coquitlam,” said Lammam. “It’s still way behind areas like Burnaby and Richmond that already have rapid transit. Coquitlam is just hurrying to catch up,” he said.

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